chapter 7

"Valkyrie squadron, open fire!"

The dark void of space became a bright cacophony of lead, plasma blasts and melting metal as both ROM and UEN naval forces entered the range of eachothers weapons. Fighters, warships and mechs unleashing their full wrath upon the rival side, holding nothing back.

First Lieutenant Daniel "Reaper " Garret pressed down the fire button on his right control joystick in his cockpit, firing his javelin war mech 120mm auto cannon at a targeted ROM space superiority fighter, only taking two shots to completely destroy the craft itself and the pilot inside.

'Thats one.' he thought. He flipped his thrusters to full and flew upwards at full speed, dodging between hostile plasma shots as he quickly switched to another target, a ROM Hoplite mech in the distance, armed with a long range particle rifle, it's barrel still steaming from a shot aimed at the bridge of a RoM corvette in the middle of the chaos.

'I don't think so you piece of scrap metal!'

He turned on the afterburners, the thrusters on the feet and back of his javelin flaring brightly as he accelerated towards the hostile vehicle. The enemy pilot noticed, as the mech shifted its aim right at Daniel, the barrel beginning to glow as it charged a shot. His heart began to race, a single shot would be enough to end him. He waited, using his gut to determine the best moment to dodge. Finally, he shifted the thrusters on the back to propel him left, spinning out of the way as the Hoplite fired the particle ray at his previous position just after he dodged. A single second longer, and he'd have been a statistic.

He brought his auto cannon up, lining up the Hoplite in his sights as he fired, but the Hoplite quickly flew to the side, the rounds missing their target. Daniel shifted to follow the hostile mech, firing his auto cannon continuously at the enemy unit, but the pilot clearly wasn't a rookie, as he dodged every single shot without much trouble, and what he couldn't dodge, he merely used the large shield on the left arm to block the fire. Daniel held down the fire button, but a message appeared on his weapon status screen in bright red letters.

"Warning, ammunition depleted. Reload required."

'Damn it!' thought Daniel. He pushed a button, ejecting the magazine from the top of the auto cannon, and began to maneuver the arm controls to grab a spare from the magnetic rack on the left leg. The enemy noticed, as he ceased his dodging maneuvers. The Hoplite let go of its particle cannon, leaving it to float in the zero gravity environment. It reached with its right hand across its waist to the left side of its hip, grabbing a cylinder shaped object. Suddenly, a bright purple beam of energy emitted from the top of the cylinder, now revealed to he a hilt, and the Hoplite quickly sped towards Daniel .

'They have freaking laser swords?! That wasn't in the briefing!' screamed Daniel in his mind. Now, he was getting worried. He quickly dodged backwards as the Hoplite closed the distance and swung the energy blade, just barely missing Daniels javelin, the heat of the blade leaving a slight scar along the metal of the left arm.

He dodged again and again, each attempt getting more and more desperate. Daniel finally managed to get a fresh magazine loaded into his auto cannon, and quickly aimed it at his attacker. He unleashed a burst of rounds, several impacting the Hoplites left shoulder, blasting off the armor and revealing the mechanical frame underneath. The force surprised the enemy pilot, stopping the swings for a brief second. Daniel knew this was his best opportunity.

He release the auto cannon, letting it float as he grabbed the Hoplites right arm, bring the knee of his javelin up to slam against the back of its elbow. The arm was ripped off, wires sparking at the sudden assault. The still active sword was released from the Hoplites oversized hands, with Daniel quickly grabbing it before it could float away.

Before the Hoplite could speed away, Daniel slashed the purple energy blade at the legs of his enemies mech, slicing them off cleanly, the metal at the point of contact glowing a bright red from the intense temperature. Then, fast as his hands could manipulate the controls, daniel thrust the blade right into the abdomen of the Hoplite, right where his briefing said the cockpit would be. In an instant, the enemy pilot was vaporized, reduced to atoms. The lights on the visor of the Hoplite flashed as the blade also pierced the reactor. Daniel withdrew the blade and quickly flew backwards, just barely escaping the blast as the Hoplite exploded in a spectacular show of light.

'And that's two! But those naval intelligence douches are getting a piece of my mind after this! They can tell us where the cockpit is, but not that they have laser swords?!' yelled Daniel in his mind, slightly annoyed at how close he came to death. He brought the sword hilt up to the mono-eye camera sensor of his mech, inspecting it quickly, seeing a large button on the bottom. He shifted his mechs huge fingers to press it down, deactivating the energy blade.

'R&D is probably gonna want this' he thought, tucking the hilt into the waist armor of his mech.

He scanned the massive battle happening around him. The ROM had brought their battleships to the front, their massive spinal mounted particle lances firing into the formation of UEN warships, a single blast capable of destroying corvettes and destroyers, and causing significant damage to cruisers and battleships, themselves just barely unable to return the enemies fire due to the hostile warships slightly greater range. There is a real chance this battle could be lost if those UEN battleships aren't taken out.

'Wait, that particle cannon!' he thought. He turned the Javelins head, seeing the particle cannon the Hoplite had used still floating in the void. He flew towards it, grabbing it. The sensors in the javelins hands scanning the weapon for a match in the UEN database, and showing the current information.

'Damn, only two shots left...' he thought, the scan of the weapon showing the remaining charge in the weapons battery. He shifted the mono- eye to look at the assembly of ROM ships, determining the best course of action. His mind made up, he speeds towards the enemy line, towards the flagship battleship firing on the ROM fleet.

The point defense guns on the bow of the massive ship aimed at Daniel, opening fire with a salvo of missiles, tracking the heat signature of his javelin. Daniel slammed his fist on a red button on the left side of his seat, opening hidden compartments on the legs of his mech as each shot out three flares, diverting the missiles as he reached his target and barely dodging one that flew right past.

He flew between what little auto cannon fire was directed at him from the ballistic AA guns on the hull, and stopped right in front the bridge of the battleship. Magnifying the camera zoom, he saw two dozen men and women along with a few xenos of varying species on the bridge, all staring at the mech floating before them, pure terror visible on their faces.

With a steely look on his face, trying to fool himself of his own trepidation, he hefted the particle cannon, aiming straight inside. Just as the crew and captain inside began to run from the bridge, he fired. A bright blue blast of energy slicing through the metal and glass without effort, immediately disintegrating those within, amd blasting through numerous decks of the ship. Daniel flew back from the explosion, and around the side of the ship, reaching the stern and the massive engines. He brought the cannon up again, the barrel unleashing another blast of energy as it ravaged the engines. The destruction of the engines began filtering back into the ship, reaching the anti-matter reactor.

Daniel dropped the cannon, ditching the dead weight as he turned off the limiter on his engines as he flew back to UEN lines. He slammed back in his chair, the speed nearly too much for him to take as he flew as fast as his javelin would allow to get away before the blast. Behind him, the warships reactor finally detonated, engulfing the entire battleship in a massive explosion, thousands of crewmen reduced to atoms before they even knew what happened. The force of the blast impacts Daniels mech, propelling him forward even faster, though causing some damage to the armor. The sudden force causes Daniels head to slam against the side of the cockpit.

Even with his helmet, the impact is enough to make him lose consciousness, the last thing he sees on the screen before entering an unwanted sleep being several of his squadronmates flying toward him quickly, grabbing his damaged mech and flying back to UEN lines.